Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a meeting of NITI Aayog's governing council, of which all chief ministers are a part, with the land acquisition Bill as the main agenda. However, the chief ministers of the Congress-ruled states namely Kerala, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram are unlikely to attend the meeting. Leading the pack of absentees will be West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Mamata had on Saturday written to the Prime Minister expressing her opposition to the land acquisition bill and her inability to attend a meeting conveyed by him on the issue due to pre-occupations. Even Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is unlikely to take part in the meeting.

1993 Mumbai bombings: Yakub Menon likely to be hanged on July 30

Yakub Memon, convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts accused will be hanged at 7 am on July 30 in Nagpur Central Jail. Memon has been described as a mastermind of 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts - a series of 13 explosions March 12, 1993, that claimed 257 lives and left 713 injured. Yakub was sentenced to death by hanging for charges of criminal conspiracy under Section 120-b of the Indian Penal Code by a TADA court way back in 2007. His appeals against the judgment were rejected by the Bombay high court, supreme court and the president.

Sensex up over 100 points, reclaims 28,000 level

The BSE Sensex rose over 100 points to reclaim 28,000 level in morning trade on Wednesday following global cues. Nifty was trading above 8450. At 9.28 am, Sensex was up 130.21 points at 28,063.11. Similarly, Nifty was up 36.20 points at 8,490.30 during the same time. Japan’s Nikkei stock index advanced 0.5 per cent, bolstered by a weaker Japanese currency. Greece will take the spotlight later on Wednesday as Athens will vote on a sweeping austerity package to secure the funding it needs to stem its fiscal crisis and remain in the euro zone.

Swati Maliwal to be the next Delhi commission for women chief

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has appointed party leader Naveen Jaihind's wife Swati Maliwal as the next chief of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW). Maliwal is currently advisor (grievances) to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. An RTI activist and the youngest member of India Against Corruption, Maliwal has been associated with Kejriwal's work at 'Parivartan' since 2006. Maliwal was an software engineer before she quit to take up social work.

Spacecraft achieves Pluto flyby, then calls home

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft got humanity's first up-close look at Pluto on Tuesday and then placed a phone call across 3 billion miles to scientists waiting breathlessly back home to inform the flyby mission. To commemorate the moment of closest approach, scientists released the best picture yet of Pluto, taken on the eve of the flyby. NASA said the spacecraft the size of a baby grand piano flew by within 7,700 miles of Pluto at 31,000 mph. It was programmed to then go past the dwarf planet and study its far side.

Defence deals worth Rs 30,000 crore cleared

With Make in India tag the defence ministry has approved procurement of ammunition and hardware worth about Rs 30,000 crore for the armed forces. Under this Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative in the defence sector. The Indian firms will be permitted to tie up with foreign majors (allowed to take a 49 per cent stake in joint ventures) to bid for the contract.

Delhi CM Kejriwal wants donations to run his party

Claiming that AAP had run out of cash, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday appealed to the public to pitch in with money to help run the party's daily expenses, indicating that its donations had taken a major hit. Kejriwal justified his public appeal saying that AAP does not intend to fill its coffers adopting "wrong means" and would like to be steadfast in its vow to practise honest politics.

Geelani not to attend Pakistan high commission's Eid milan

Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has decided against attending the Eid Milan being hosted by the Pakistan High Commission here on July 21 over the Kashmir issue being “ignored” at pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during their talks in the Russian city of Ufa on July 10. Another reason for Geelani's refusal to Pak invite is the fact that he has applied for an Indian passport.

India will allow Huawei to set up base after Chinese thaw

Union home ministry has given its nod to let Huawei Telecommunications set up a manufacturing, trading and logistics base in India. Chinese telecom hardware giant Huawei's proposal to set up a unit in Sriperambudur, Tamil Nadu was pending since 2013. It was being kept in abeyance because of IB's hard stand on keeping the Chinese companies out of the strategic sectors as they are notorious for hacking and espionage. This clearance is a major shift in the policy after recent improvements in Sino-Indian relations.

Tamil Nadu is most preferred destination for doemstic and foreign visitors

According to the data was compiled by the Market Research Division of the Ministry of Tourism, which counts the numbers of domestic and foreign tourists visiting states and union territories in the country, Tamil Nadu, which got 32.76 crore domestic tourist visits, topped the list, followed by Uttar Pradesh (182.8m ), Karnataka (118.3m), Maharashtra (94.1m), Andhra Pradesh (93.3m), Telengana (72.4m), Madhya Pradesh (63.6m), West Bengal (49.0m) Jharkhand (33.4 m ) and Rajasthan (33.1 m ). These top ten states got 83.28% of the total number of domestic tourist visits during 2014.
In terms of foreign visitors, Tamil Nadu with 46.6 lakh was again at the top with Maharashtra ( 43.9 lakh) at second position. Uttar Pradesh (29.1 lakh), Delhi (23.2 lakh), Rajasthan (15.3 lakh), West Bengal (13.8 lakh), Kerala (9.2 lakh), Bihar (8.3 lakh), Karnataka (5.6 lakh) and Haryana (5.5 lakh) were the other states in the top ten ranking. These top ten states accounted for 88.8% of the total number of foreign tourists in the country during 2014.

Karnataka gets its first skin bank

Karnataka's first skin bank will open at Victoria Hospital, Bengaluru, on Wednesday.It works like an eye bank. Harvesting the skin has to be carried out within six hours of death and the procedure lasts 30 minutes. Today is plastic surgery day.

MNS stops screening of Pakistani movie Bin Roye

Pakistani movie Bin Roye won't be screened in Maharashtra due to to the diktat of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). MNS objected to the proposed release on the grounds that Pakistan has been sponsoring terror attacks on the country particularly in Maharashtra.

Papers found at Teesta Setalvad's properties show she violated FCRA

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claimed to have found papers supporting the allegations against the civil rights activist after conducting raids at her house and office. She is accused of violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had said Setalvad's organisation was not registered to receive foreign funds. According to officials, documents recovered from Setalvad's office show that her company Sabrang Communications and Publishing had received funds from international organisation Ford Foundation, which might be asked to join the investigation.

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